Posted on 04/11/2005 8:20:21 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
CQ HOMELAND SECURITY – BORDER SECURITY
April 8, 2005 – 8:28 p.m.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is thinking about resuming a program to transport illegal aliens back to their hometowns in Mexico, rather than the present practice of expelling them at the Arizona border.
The main clue that it might renew a program that was tried out last year was an unheralded notice from the department’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection that it is looking for a firm to provide charter flights from Tucson to Mexico, posted online April 6.
Queried about the initiative, DHS officials, legally barred from releasing details of a procurement before an official solicitation, would not confirm that the notice referred to last year’s interior repatriation program. But the similarities are uniform.
Last year’s pilot program, which ran from July 16 through September, allowed detained illegal immigrants from Mexico to volunteer for flights from Tucson to Mexico City and Guadalajara, where buses would return them to their hometowns.
The presolicitation notice posted online last week called for a contractor that could operate the charter flights, provide security and medical services on the plane, and have staff, buses and other “facilities” to help Mexican authorities unload and transport the passengers.
DHS officials cautioned that the announcement — like all presolicitation notices — does not mean a formal request will be released. But the announcement itself says “it is anticipated that the solicitation for this requirement shall issue on or about April 21, 2005.”
The pilot program was the only one of its kind in the nation.
DHS officials last year touted the pilot program as a way to deter illegal immigration and cut down on the cycle of violence surrounding Southwestern border crossings.
These days, if a Mexican national detained for illegal entry volunteers to return to his home country without going through formal deportation proceedings, he is escorted across the border and left in the immediate border area, which, in Arizona, often means long stretches of desert.
In such cases, the migrant commonly turns again to the smugglers who helped him the first time and tries again, Border Patrol spokesman Salvador Zamora said.
There were 340 deaths in the Tucson sector alone last year.
The charter flight program repatriated more than 14,000 illegal immigrants last year, Zamora said. But it also cost more than $15 million.
“It’s a very costly project,” said Jose Matus, director of the Arizona-based Human Rights Coalition. “And if the idea was to deter illegal immigration, it didn’t help at all.”
“We believe there’s other, better ways of using that money,” he added.
According to an August report by United Press International, the number of participants in last year’s pilot program decreased over time.
DHS’ goal was to fly back 300 Mexican nationals a day, Zamora said. The presolicitation notice called for a firm that could offer charter flights for “up to 300 people per day.”
The repatriation program was begun as a supplement to the Arizona Border Control Initiative — a pilot program that used aerial drones and increased manpower to monitor Arizona’s southern border. It is available only to detainees without criminal records.
DHS unveiled a new, expanded version of the pilot project on March 30, but did not say whether the charter flights would be continued.
Last year’s flights were based on a memorandum of understanding between DHS and the Mexican government. According to that agreement, the program had an expiration date of Sept. 30, Zamora said.
A new solicitation, if it comes, would be a total small-business set-aside, meaning only firms with 1,500 employees or fewer could win the award, according to the announcement.
"Instead of wasting $1071 per returnee, as on FReeper suggested a couple of weeks ago, put them to work as punishment--have them be building a fence across the southern border."
WE HAVE A WINNER !!!!
bump for later read.
Program is flawed by the fact it takes the invaders "home".
It should take them to the furthest possible point from the U.S. that is still in Mexico, if the invaders are from Mex.
I strongly suspect that cast off former cruise ships manned by our Coast Guard would be slower, but cheaper, as they could take back many more at a time.
How about Cape Horn?
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".. have them be building a fence across the southern border."
LOL, and the next thing you know, Fox would send his army to the border to 'free' them.
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